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3.45 AVERAGE
3.45 AVERAGE
Ginstel haunted me for days. Neil Gaiman, good as always. Stories weren't bad at all and made me jealous at how well they were written.
Some great short stories. Some of the categories were not my thing so I stopped reading.
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
Really good collection with some authors I already love and a few I’ll definitely be reading more.
I liked the book but if I'm honest I read it for the Patricia Briggs book which I loved small but made me want more.
The last section is Noir Fantasy and I'm not motivated to go through that. The previous sections were brilliant, definitely 4/5, particularly Briggs' 'Seeing Eye' story
Yeah, i enjoyed this when all's said and done. The first section of the book(mythic fiction) very much let down the second and third sections which really would have lifted this book into the 5 star realms had they been the whole of the book. Still, very good on the whole. In any anthology there are nearly always stories that aren't as good as the rest or simply don't seem to belong and this was certainly the case here too, but all things considered it deserves a 4 star rating in my opinion and a few of the stories easily rank 5 stars.
I've always enjoyed short stories. I think they're a wonderful device to display a specific little part of life, like if you were to slice a neat little chunk out of life with a scalpel and place it under a spotlight. I like that.
Anyway, 4 stars, would have been 5 but for the woeful first section.
I've always enjoyed short stories. I think they're a wonderful device to display a specific little part of life, like if you were to slice a neat little chunk out of life with a scalpel and place it under a spotlight. I like that.
Anyway, 4 stars, would have been 5 but for the woeful first section.
A real mixed bag in this anthology. I really didn't like some of the stories, but some were solid.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, Torture, Toxic relationship, Blood, Cannibalism, Murder
Moderate: Child death, Gun violence, Infidelity, Slavery, Torture, Trafficking
Ok lets make something clear upfront I am a fan of sub-genre, and as a concept I am fine with the idea of urban fantasy. One of my favorite reads last year was King Maker by Maurice Broadus which was basically gangland version of King Arthur’s court set in modern Indianapolis. That is urban fantasy, and The Crow is another fine example. Alot of my favorite stories in this collection are ones that just seemed like horror, but I am biased I suppose since horror is one of my favorite genres.
This board and diverse anthology features three sections Mythic Fiction, Paranormal romance and Noir Fantasy. Each section comes with an introduction about the sub-genre of the sun-genre and honestly those essays were my favorite part of the read. The Mythic fiction essay was written by Charles De Lint, the Romance one by Paula Guran(long time editor, agent and Cemetery Dance columnist) and bestselling author Joe R. Lansdale.
As for the stories I honestly felt my eyes rolling a lot and and many of the zombie love stories, zombie private eyes, vampire at rave yadda yada led to a lot of subconscious skipping around and less than memorable stories.
My favorite stories were the bizarre surrealist tale “Bible Repairman” by Tim Powers, “Haunted house of my very Own.” By Kelly Armstrong and the classic by Joe R. Lansdale’s "On the far side of the Cadillac Desert with Dead Folks,” Which I read when it was released in Skipp and Spector’s classic zombie anthology “The Book of the Dead.” I was too young to understand the story the first time I read so it was awesome to relive it.
The reality about my favorite stories were they seemed like horror tales and not urban Fantasy, but what do I know. I do think regardless of my opinion as a reader and a critic this book SHOULD be in every library collection. This is a growing new sub-genre and I think this book is an important look at how and why it exists.
This board and diverse anthology features three sections Mythic Fiction, Paranormal romance and Noir Fantasy. Each section comes with an introduction about the sub-genre of the sun-genre and honestly those essays were my favorite part of the read. The Mythic fiction essay was written by Charles De Lint, the Romance one by Paula Guran(long time editor, agent and Cemetery Dance columnist) and bestselling author Joe R. Lansdale.
As for the stories I honestly felt my eyes rolling a lot and and many of the zombie love stories, zombie private eyes, vampire at rave yadda yada led to a lot of subconscious skipping around and less than memorable stories.
My favorite stories were the bizarre surrealist tale “Bible Repairman” by Tim Powers, “Haunted house of my very Own.” By Kelly Armstrong and the classic by Joe R. Lansdale’s "On the far side of the Cadillac Desert with Dead Folks,” Which I read when it was released in Skipp and Spector’s classic zombie anthology “The Book of the Dead.” I was too young to understand the story the first time I read so it was awesome to relive it.
The reality about my favorite stories were they seemed like horror tales and not urban Fantasy, but what do I know. I do think regardless of my opinion as a reader and a critic this book SHOULD be in every library collection. This is a growing new sub-genre and I think this book is an important look at how and why it exists.
Just a great collection, though a few of the stories were hard to get through because I knew the endings were going to punch me in the gut. ("Gestella," I'm looking at you.)
As always, an anthology is a fun way to try to discover new authors. I really enjoyed some of these short stories & will be looking into other works because of them. I also liked the several pieces included in the book that looked into the history of urban fantasy writing & what the genre covers...WHY things are categorized the way they are & a bit of a peek into the world of writing & publication.